Frenchman Herve Renard told AFP on Friday he has been relieved of his duties as Saudi Arabia coach, less than two months before the start of the 2026 World Cup.

Renard, 57, returned for a second spell as Saudi coach at the end of 2024, having led them at the last World Cup in Qatar, including to a famous win over eventual champions Argentina in the group stage.

“That’s football… Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup seven times, including twice with me,” Renard told AFP via telephone.

“And there’s only one coach who has led them through both the qualifiers and the World Cup; that’s me, in 2022. At least there will be that sense of pride.”

Renard, a two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner with Zambia and Ivory Coast, led Saudi Arabia from 2019 to 2023 before being replaced by Roberto Mancini.

He served as coach of the France women’s team and reached the quarter-finals of both the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Olympics.

Renard was later brought back by Saudi Arabia to succeed Mancini, as the Italian left his role after an underwhelming 14-month stint.

Former Greece international Georgios Donis is reportedly being lined up as the man to take over from Renard.

A source close to the negotiations told AFP that talks are underway between the federation and Saudi club Al Khaleej, where Donis has been in charge since 2024.

Saudi Arabia will face Spain, Uruguay and Cape Verde in Group H at this year’s World Cup.

-AFP

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on April 15 that Iran will “for sure” participate in the 2026 World Cup despite the Middle East war.

Infantino said he was recently in Antalya, Turkey, to visit with the Iranian team at their training camp and said the team wants to participate in the World Cup.

“Iran is coming for sure. We hope that by then the situation will be a peaceful one, which would definitely help,” Infantino said on broadcaster CNBC.

“But Iran has to come, they represent their people, they have qualified, the players want to play,” he said of the team’s upcoming matches scheduled in the United States in June.

Iran’s participation in the global tournament had been thrown into doubt by the war with the United States and Israel that broke out on February 28

“Sports should be outside of politics,” Infantino said.

“If there’s nobody else that believes in building bridges and keeping them intact and together, we are doing the job,” he continued.

Iran, one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup – which is projected to generate more than US$11 billion (S$14 billion) in revenue – is scheduled to play all three of its group stages in the US.

Iran is slated to open against New Zealand on June 15, then face Belgium on June 21, with both matches in Los Angeles. On June 26, Iran is scheduled to play Egypt in Seattle. Should Iran advance, the rest of its games would also be held in the US.

Iran requested FIFA move its games to Mexico, which is hosting games along with the US and Canada, but was denied.

A national team has not withdrawn from a FIFA World Cup since 1950, the first tournament held after World War II.

The cost of tickets and the safety of the millions of fans travelling from all over the world have also been significant concerns for organisers.

Amid “an unprecedented demand for tickets,” Infantino said there were more than 500 million ticket requests for the June 11 to July 19 tournament.

“Security is obviously key, it’s crucial, it’s important,” he said. “You can, of course, always hear and read there are bans or this and that, but the fact is, we received ticket requests from all 211 countries. Everybody’s coming, and everybody wants to come.”

So for Infantino, what would qualify as a successful World Cup?

“A win would be that we have a successful World Cup from a security point of view, so no incidents,” he said. “And from a football point of view, great matches, great games, excitement for the people.” 

-AFP/Reuters

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The U.S. government has released all funds allocated for ‌security at the soccer World Cup, but the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has affected planning and coordination, a department official told a Senate hearing on ​Wednesday.

“A lot of the planning efforts underway for the World Cup ​have been slowed down, have been delayed due to the ⁠lapse in appropriations, individuals being furloughed,” Christopher Tomney, director of the DHS ​Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness, told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Intelligence briefings reviewed ​by Reuters last month warned of the potential for extremists and criminals to target the World Cup, with officials working on preparations for the soccer tournament sounding the alarm ​on a delay in allocation of approved security funds.

Tomney said the Federal ​Emergency Management Agency has now distributed the $625 million earmarked for security. The 48-team tournament, one ‌of ⁠the world’s biggest sporting events, will be held in June and July across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“All the funding has been released now. FEMA GO is up and operational,” he said, referring to the disaster agency’s grants ​management system.

The DHS shutdown ​has crossed ⁠the two-month mark, with lawmakers in Congress unable to agree on legislation to fund the agency in the wake ​of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Trump signed an order earlier ​this month ⁠to pay every DHS employee.

When asked how specifically the shutdown has hampered the agency’s ability to organize the event, Tomney pointed to the departure of hundreds ⁠of ​transportation security officers from the Transportation Security Administration.

“We ​just can’t replace that expertise overnight. It has hindered our coordination with state and locals,” he ​said.

-Reuters

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